One Summer Night
by Jeff Morris
Summary: A heat wave is broiling Republic City, and a surprise discovery leads to an evening with family, friends and memories on Air Temple Island.
"My, it's hot out there," Tenzin declared as he stepped inside the kitchen. "I can't remember a heat wave lasting as long as this one has." He gratefully accepted a glass of ice cold tea and gulped it down. "Thank you, dear."

"Where are the kids?" Pema asked, wiping the sweat from her forehead. While the house afforded some degree of shade, the air hung hot and heavy all the same. "I don't want them getting exhausted by staying out there too long."

"I think they'll be along in a few minutes." Tenzin helped himself to a second glass. "I cancelled classes and training. It's not like anyone would be able to pay much attention under the circumstances."

He reached for the pitcher once more, but Pema lightly smacked his hand away. "Save some for the children," she ordered. He made a face but reluctantly complied. "Kya's been busy," she commented as she set to work on another batch of tea. "Four acolytes have fainted today, and she left a few big ice blocks down by the bison caves. I think Kuruk's hiding down there as well."

"I can't blame him. Korra said once that Naga hated the summers until Asami built that refrigerated pool for her."

"For Korra or for Naga?" Pema teased, but further banter was cut off by Bumi's excited shouts from the courtyard. "Now what?" Tenzin sighed as he headed outside into the heat, Pema close behind.

"Tenzin! Look what I found in one of the storage sheds!" Bumi was staggering beneath the weight of a huge wooden barrel with a metal crank dangling from the top. "Remember this?"

"My word," Tenzin breathed. "Is that what I think it is?"

"It's Uncle Sokka's old ice cream maker!" Bumi carefully set it down and wiped his brow. "I can't believe it! I was poking around in one of the storage sheds for some stuff of mine and there it was! It still cranks, too—I gave it a few pulls just to see!" He grabbed the handle and demonstrated.

"Wow," Kya declared as she left her office. "I guess he never took it back to Republic City after the last time…when was that? Let's see, I think you were thirty, Tenzin. It was one of those times when Bumi and I both happened to be here…"

"It was Father's birthday," Tenzin confirmed. "That was quite a night as I recall. I think Uncle Zuko, Aunt Mai and Izumi were here as well."

"Yeah," Kya nodded. "They gave me a lift." She knelt down and inspected the device's interior. "Looks like it could stand a good cleaning," she noted as she slid a finger along the inner wall. "I'll bet it'd work just fine, though."

"Oh, ice cream would be wonderful," Pema sighed happily. "And we've got so many strawberries from the greenhouse—it'd be a shame to let them go to waste! What do you think, Tenzin?"

"Well…" He stroked his beard for a moment. "We'd still need cream and milk… and some rock salt."

"Yeah," Bumi nodded. "I still remember the time Dad convinced Sokka to use bison milk. Ewww."

Tenzin nodded. "If we invited Korra and Asami over, though, I suppose they wouldn't mind picking a few things up."

"And we could invite Lin—and Mako too!" Pema was practically dancing despite the oppressive heat. "I can't wait! This is going to be so nice!"

"I agree," Tenzin said, smiling. "Bumi, if you and Kya wouldn't mind cleaning that thing up, I'll make some phone calls."

* * *

"I don't get it," Ikki commented as she watched her aunt and uncle work on the old machine. "If everyone wants ice cream, why don't we just go into the city?"

"Well, we could," Kya smiled. "But I'll let you in on a little secret—home-made ice cream tastes so much better than the store-bought stuff. Fresher and purer ingredients…"

"…and good old fashioned muscle to crank it out," Bumi finished. "Man, those were such good times. Hey Kya, remember the time Tenzin ate too much too fast and got a brain-freeze? And then begged Mom to heal him because we told him it might be permanent?"

"Oh yeah. And Mom's birthday—and Uncle Sokka had slipped a little cactus juice into the second batch? And Dad and Zuko decided to serenade her with all three verses of 'The Wet Water Tribe Maiden'?"

Ikki shook her head. "This is one of those old-folks things, isn't it?" She rested her chin on her knees and sighed heavily. "I wish I could go to the Palladium tonight."

"Kid, trust me when I tell you the city is too damned hot," Lin announced as she appeared by the stairway. She'd abandoned her uniform top for the t-shirt underneath. "There'd be more sweating than dancing going on." She turned around and stared at a fully-dressed Mako, who was holding little Katara in his arms. "For spirits' sake, Mako. Take your shirt off. You look like you're about to collapse in that thing."

"I'm fine." He set Kat down and wiped the sweat off his forehead. A second later he was sputtering and shaking his head as an onslaught of water hit him head on. "Kya! Was that necessary? Now I have to take it off…"

"Wasn't me, kiddo," Kya replied, smiling as she returned her attention to filling the machine's insulated outer chamber with ice and salt.

"Don't look at me, either," Korra noted as she and Asami appeared. "I've got my hands full right now." She nodded toward the two large containers she was toting. "You ask me," she grinned, "you'd better ask the little stinker beside you." Katara giggled and trotted away from Mako's lunge.

"Can't argue with results," Asami chuckled. "I'm assuming we need to take these inside? I hope we brought enough."

Kya nodded. "Pema's waiting for you. She's really excited about this. And I think that'll be plenty."

* * *

"Okay, Korra. You can stop pouring for now. We're full." Bumi wrestled the outer lid into place and locked it shut.

"Thank the spirits. The heat makes everything a lot harder," Korra gasped as she sat down. "I'll keep this cool until we need more."

"I don't know," Asami said as she handed Korra a drink. "That's an awful lot of ice cream."

"That's okay!" Meelo declared proudly. "I've got an awful lot of room in my belly!"

"All right, everyone here?" Bumi looked and around and nodded in approval. "Now, in keeping with Uncle Sokka's rules, normally only a non-bender would be allowed to turn the crank. However, since we're a bit low on non-benders at the moment, Pema here will provide the first turn." He bowed graciously and motioned her over.

"I don't know," she laughed. "I'm not THAT strong…"

"Aw, come on Mom!" Meelo cheered. "You can do it!"

"Go Mom!" Jinora clapped. "Show 'em what you've got!"

Shaking her head, Pema rolled her sleeves up and gripped the handle tightly. "Thank the spirits I only had to do this one," she huffed a moment later. "I'll leave the rest to you, Bumi."

"I'll lend a hand when you need a breather," Tenzin offered. "No point in exhausting yourself."

"Appreciate it," Bumi huffed as he worked. "I'm not as young as I used to be."

"Can you believe this weather?" said Lin. "It's been so bad even the spirit vines are withering."

"The radio said we should be seeing a break in the next day or so," Pema replied. "The sooner, the better for me."

"That usually means bad storms," Mako pointed out. "Kat, stop pulling my glove down. I'm fine."

"Mako, if it's uncomfortable then take it off," Korra ordered. "None of us will mind."

"That's not the problem," Mako replied. "Whenever I do have it off, Kat here tries to heal it." As if on cue, the little waterbender spread a layer of water over his scars; unfortunately it dissipated into a soggy puddle a few seconds later. "That's okay, honey," he soothed, pulling the upset child into his arms. "Thank you for trying."

"I'd watch that one," Kya grinned. "Someone's been watching Mom and she's a fast learner."

"Oh, tell me about it," Korra groaned, rolling her eyes. "She's already mastered the 'toilet water on the ceiling' trick."

"Your father told me your first trick was 'set the ceiling over your crib on fire'," Asami teased.

"Well, Ikki was a very fast learner too," Tenzin pointed out as he took over from Bumi. "For the longest time I had no idea that I was training her as I worked with Jinora."

"Daaaad," Ikki groaned. "Do we have to tell those stories AGAIN? They were embarrassing the first time."

"You just had to horn in on my private time with Dad," Jinora teased. "At least I slept all night."

"At least I didn't steal Oogi to find my own bison friend," Ikki shot back.

"Yeah, but you both tried to get rid of me," Meelo jumped in.

"We were not 'getting rid of you'. We were returning you to your lemur family." Jinora smiled smugly.

"We were sure your mommy lemur missed you," Ikki nodded. "Turns out they didn't want you any more than we did."

"Children," Pema said in quiet warning.

"Spirits know I wanted to get rid of Su," Lin smiled ruefully. "Most attention-seeking brat ever. And Mom spoiled her rotten." She looked over at Tenzin. "Remember when she swiped Aunt Suki's fans and damn near took Momo's head off?"

"I don't know why you two couldn't follow the example of our loving family," Kya laughed. "We NEVER had any sort of sibling rivalry…where anyone could see."

"That's because none of us dared cross your mother," Lin retorted. "Even Su behaved herself when she was around."

"Here, Tenzin. Let me take over," Korra offered.

"I'm all right."

"Your forehead looks like a thermometer." She gently pushed him away and resumed the churning. "How long do I have to do this?"

"I'd say we're almost there," Bumi replied. "Maybe a few more minutes. You're doing great, Korra."

"You're just saying that because you're not the one cranking this thing."

"This is usually about the time Uncle Sokka would handed off the job to Aunt Suki," Kya laughed. "She hid quite a set of muscles under that Kyoshi Warrior outfit."

"Have we ever met her?" Jinora asked.

"Yes. She stopped by once when you were little," Tenzin replied. "After Sokka died, she retired from the Warriors…"

"TRIED to retire, you mean," Bumi snorted. "They wouldn't let her."

"…well, let's say she took a less active role and settled down on the island," Tenzin finished. "She's supposed to have quite a garden in her backyard. I've offered to bring her up here several times, but she's always declined. I think part of it is dealing with Ty Lee's health issues."

"Yeah, right," Kya said, rolling her eyes. "The only centenarian who does handstands on her wheelchair. She's in horrible shape, that one."

"I've been meaning to get down there and discuss some business opportunities," Asami said. "Maybe Korra can come with me for a visit. Kat, too."

"I'm sure she'd be very happy to see you," Tenzin nodded.

"Yeah, it'd be nice to meet one more member of the old Team Avatar," Korra agreed. "Especially one who doesn't live in a swamp." She gave the crank one last go-round. "I think it's ready."

Bumi triumphantly held up a large scoop. "Only one way to find out!"

* * *

"Oh, that was delicious," Pema sighed. She put an arm around Rohan and hugged him. "Did you like it, sweetheart?" He nodded firmly and hiccupped for emphasis.

"Perhaps we can do this more often," Tenzin suggested. "I have to admit it's brought back a lot of good memories."

"I don't see why not," Bumi agreed. "It's not like we have to wait for another heat wave, after all." He turned his face toward the wind and frowned. "That front's moving in faster than they thought."

"Well, if it cools things off, I'm all in favor." Lin rose to her feet and stretched. "I've got to get back to the city. Thanks for inviting me, Tenzin. You're right—doing this was kind of fun."

"I think that's our cue as well," Asami said. "Mako, do you have Kat?"

"Yeah. She's sound asleep." He glanced down and smiled at the little girl.

"You want me to take her?" Korra asked. "You pretty much got saddled with babysitting duty tonight."

"I don't mind," Mako said, shaking his head. He started to rise as well, but found Rohan in his path. "What's up, kid?"

The young airbender held out a damp rag. "Clean."

"That's a great idea, Rohan." Mako accepted the gift and set to work. "There we go. Thank you."

"Kai, why don't we go down and check on the bison?" Jinora said far too casually. "You know, make sure they're settled in and won't get spooked by the storm?"

"That's a great idea!" Meelo declared. He hopped on his air ball and roared off. "See you there!"

"Bumi, did you need some help cleaning that?" Tenzin asked. "It's only fair that I help—you and Kya did so much work in preparing it."

"Nah, it's okay," Bumi assured him. "I like watching the stars come out. Reminds me of evening watch, you know? I'll take care of it."

"Well, all right then. Good night." Tenzin and Pema headed inside.

Kya noticed Ikki standing nearby, her eyes fixed on the city...and beyond. "Hey, kid, what do you say we tackle all those dirty dishes so your mom doesn't have to?" She wrapped a friendly arm around her niece's shoulder. "We haven't had a talk in ages, and what better way?"

Bumi looked around the now-empty courtyard and sighed. "Well, looks like it's just you and me," he told the messy barrel. "Hey, Kya…" A moment later the ice cream maker was filled with water. "Thank you!" He grabbed a rag and set to work, singing quietly to himself: "Ohh, who's that knocking on my door, who's that knocking on my door, who's that knocking at my door, said the fair maiden…"


End file.
